The Countdown

[ekul]

Brewing brad, saw your post tonight saking how long the flowers sat for. One cube was fermented after a week or so, the other was fermented after a month or so.

 

[gone_fishing]

If you can maintain the urn temp without scorching the bag, then applying heat is perfectly acceptable. Re the yeast, I personally don't like SO4 - the US-05 would give a cleaner more neutral character considering that you are going for a fair amount of hop character here. Sounds good.

Bribie,

I relent to your greater experince on these matters but does 1.033 seem a little low to you (including a couple of litres boil-off)?
gf

 

[Brewing_Brad]

The conversion should be well finished. I'm not a BIAB'er, I use 3V. I would be hoping that you have a lot of goodness trapped in that bag and when you lift it out it drains in to your kettle. You might need to give it a good squeeze to get it all out (ouch hot). Hopefully someone who uses this method can give you some more advice.

Well after a good squeezing (and yes, OUCH!), there's not much change. Oh well..I guess this is where I work out that my efficiency is low )

On to the boil now.

 

[felon]

I would pull your bittering hop addition back a little as the hop utilization will increase with the lower gravity. I normally only gain around 5 - 6 gravity points max during a 60 min boil. You might want to give it a good hard 90 min boil to bring it up a bit more, but your evaporation will increase. I find it needs a good stir before you take readings with a refractometer in the kettle.

 

[Brewing_Brad]

Ok, so I'm all done and it was definitely a learning curve.

Final S.G. was 1.043 (which, according to BeerSmith, makes my efficiency only 62.4%) and judging by the taste, it's probably a touch bitter than I wanted. I'll take another gravity reading tomorrow once the temp has dropped to pitching temp, just to see if there's any difference, but I'm not expecting it there to be much, if any.

All that aside; it LOOKS like a beer, it SMELLS like a beer, so I'm gonna go ahead and call that a beer! I can now say I've done my first all grain and it can only get better from here...right?

Let's just hope after all this it TASTES like beer

Good night guys.
Brad

 

[Hatchy]

Nice work mate. If yr previous beers have been ok then this one will be brilliant. I wouldn't worry about the bitterness, my wort always tastes terrible to me to the point that I rarely drink it pre ferment now.

I wouldn't be worried about the efficiency either. I don't BIAB but from reading here I believe lower efficiency is the norm. If that's the efficiency you get then you'll just need more grain for bigger beers.

 

[felon]

You learn a lot from your first couple of brews as to how your system works with regards to efficiency and process losses. Glad to see it all went well. It only gets better from here and there is no turning back now. Enjoy. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[pimpsqueak]

Nice work Brad.
Can't wait until I get to start one of these threads after I get back from Easter and pop my BIAB cherry. :icon_cheers:

 

[Brewing_Brad]

Nice work Brad.
Can't wait until I get to start one of these threads after I get back from Easter and pop my BIAB cherry. :icon_cheers:

Jump in and do it! I'm kicking myself for not having a go earlier - it was surprisingly simple and a hell of a lot of fun - especially if you've got a brew buddy.

 

[flano]

I don't even hang the bag any more...too messy.
I twist it up into a tight ball and sit it on a fridge rack/shelf on top of the pot .

Leave it while I get another batch up to mash temp .

then put big kick arse rubber gloves on and squeeze with a lot of pushing down on bag to get all the juice out.
I reckon it is heaps easier and you hardly spill any of it.

up to the individual though I guess.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Need thick rubber gardening gloves from the big green shed. They prevent hand burn.

The other thing is to get them long - it might be uncomfortable but so is avoiding burns through the gloves, only to have hot wort spill into the glove from the cuff.

Goomba

 

[flano]

yep what goomba said.

I have the short thich rubber ones ....but I use normal washing up ones underneath.

will update when at green shed next

 

[Brewing_Brad]

Holy bubling airlock Batman! I've never seen my airlock work so hard! Seriously, I thought it was going to rattle off the fermenter!

I just took a reading with the new fangled refractometer (and confirmed with the old hydrometer) and it's dropped down to 1.009 already!

I used a yeast starter (made from a cup of wort that I set aside) and the temperature has remained at a steady 23 degrees.

Is fermenting this fast normal with AG? Am I missing something or have I done something different? It tastes ok, fairly dry and still a tad bitter - but not as bad as it was.

Either way, I'll be leaving it in the fermenter for 2 weeks all up to let it clear etc, but it's just surprised me that it's gone through the sugar so fast.

I'd love to hear you thoughts.

Cheers
Brad

 

[argon]

AG wort is a little more fermentable than extract that's for sure... nothing to worry about. Although, 23C is a tad high. I think you'll be pushing a few esters, especially with the S04. Nothing bad, just a bit fruitier.

Edit: Leaving it in primary for 14 days is a good idea... especially if you can then give a few days of cold to really drop things out.

well done on the first AG mate

 

[scooter_59]

Try and get your ferment temp down 23 is a bit for an ale . Place it in an ice bath or something similar , for you will have beer but at those temps you will end up with unwanted flavours from the yeast .

Cheers
Leachim

 

[Brewing_Brad]

AG wort is a little more fermentable than extract that's for sure... nothing to worry about. Although, 23C is a tad high. I think you'll be pushing a few esters, especially with the S04. Nothing bad, just a bit fruitier.

well done on the first AG mate

Thanks Argon,

Fruity is what I was originally after with the Galaxy hops, so this could work out well

I didn't think there was a problem, but it sure surprised me it dropped so low in only a day - and it's still bubbling, albeit not as violently.

 

[Brewing_Brad]

Hey guys,

It appears that the fermentation has all but completed (same reading today as yesterday) so I figure I'll drop the temp down and leave it for the next two weeks. My question is...how cold should I make it?

Cheers
Brad

 

[vykuza]

As cold as possible! 0 - 1 C is ideal (it won't freeze at 0 due to the alcohol content, but if you notice crystals raise the temp).

 

[Brewing_Brad]

As cold as possible! 0 - 1 C is ideal (it won't freeze at 0 due to the alcohol content, but if you notice crystals raise the temp).

The fridge only goes down to 7 so I guess that will have to do. Thanks Nick.

 

[yum beer]

great work Brad, hope it all comes out good,


Just sitting with a Sail And Anchor 'Dry Dock" whilst doing my first AG boil.

ya gotta luv beer...